The 23-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem had his ship going under the water as he made the first steps at Rogers Cup in Montreal. Ranked seventh in the world, Thiem received the third spot in the seeded players' ballot. Thus he went on receiving a bye for the round of 64. But, his bid came to an end pretty much as Diego Schwartzman (36 ATP) saw a great opportunity for himself.
Ranked 36th in the world, the No. 2 of Argentina staged quite a thrilling show against Thiem. For the Austrian player is just another event where things turned out badly. His top drawer game of tennis is most suitable for a clay court.
It's the second loss in about a week for him, and things aren't looking that great approaching US Open. All though that this time is gonna be different as he entered City Open just to give him plenty of time to adapt to the fast North American cement. I may not be the case as he seems a bit under the weather.
Thiem didn't handle things properly, and Schwartzman saw an opportunity
The opening set of Thiem vs. Schwartzman encounter saw the top seed struggling to survive. Despite breaking first, Thiem lost control of the situation having his opponent racing from behind to clinch the set by 6-4. The second act had its fair share of turbulence with several breaks of serve in a row. Once he settled in, Thiem was able to control the firepower from behind the baseline.
With Schwartzman hanging in miraculously, the set went into a tie-break where Thiem eventually converted the fifth set point he bought. It seems that the match will have Thiem in a recovery mode for the third set. Things indeed went in that direction as one by one four match points were within the range. Failing to convert any of them just ignited the belief in Schwartzman's eyes who went over Thiem almost immediately.
Eventually, after three hours of play, the Argentine sealed the deal delivering the biggest upset of the day.
Dominic Thiem is running out of time
The Austrian will turn 24 years of age in September, and it seems he is running out of settling-in time. As an ATP top player who might wanna win Majors, you cannot rely on your clay court season only.
It is indeed a significant chunk of the season where a lot of great things can be accomplished, but it's not all that matters.
Over the past two years or so, Thiem hasn't learned the lesson yet as he is still struggling when it comes to other surfaces, especially the faster ones. And he might lose some big opportunities next. With Djokovic and Wawrinka out, his top seed status could go as high as No. 4, especially for US Open.
